Decisions of the PCC February 2018

On this page, any decisions made by the Police and Crime Commissioner for Cleveland will be published. The table below outlines each decision supported by the Decision Form used by the Commissioner to justify the decision.

Note: Where a link to the decision document is unavailable. this will be updated as soon as possible.

To release income from the provision of Mutual Aid to cover the costs incurred by Cleveland Police in the deployment of resources at these events. Cleveland Police has supported a number of Mutual Aid deployments between October 2017 - December 2017 which were not part of the budget set at the start of the year. In line with national guidelines the provision of Mutual Aid is charged to the force to whom the Mutual Aid is being provided.

Cleveland Police has incurred expenditure, that was not provided for when setting the 2017-18 budget in providing Mutual Aid, of £96,621.79. The total amount to be reimbursed to Cleveland for providing these services is £121,723.54, which takes into account the full costs, in line with national charging agreements, of the services provided.

Cleveland Police are therefore requesting the release of £96,650, from the income to be received by the PCC, to pay for the additional costs that they have incurred in providing this Mutual Aid. This will result in an increase in the budget available to the Chief Constable of £96,650 which will in turn ensure that the provision of Mutual Aid has not reduced the funding available to the Chief Constable for Policing within Cleveland.

The 'over-recovery' of income of £25,073.54 will lead to an under spend during 2017/18 and will be made available to support future financial plans.

The 2017/18 Capital Programme included the funding for a business case for additional phone licences for the Community Safety Hub (CSH) to remove the limitation of the current Cisco 101 solution by providing all staff within the CSH with a 'standard' licence to enable them to be recognised by the system.

It is now proposed to implement an Intelligent Call Handling Solution that would use voice recognition software to route calls based on name, department, service, or any other identifying descriptor associated with an area of the organisation. Public and internal calls can be managed separately and specific individuals, teams or roles that Cleveland Police would not want accessible directly by members of the public can be excluded.

Intelligent Call Handling Solutions will integrate into the existing telephony technology to increase and better manage voicemail messages, including the ability to escalate individuals' or team voicemails if not responded to within a pre-determined timescale.

An additional module to the Intelligent Call Handling Solution is the Intelligent Callback, allowing the caller in a queue, the option to request a call back rather than waiting on the phone. The system will then retain that queue position for that caller, calling them back when their call reaches the top of the queue.

Evidence gathered from other police service deployments confirms a significant reduction in call volumes within the control room, enabling more efficient and effective call management. The introduction of a call back system would provide a mechanism for managing peaks in demand and drastically reduce call abandonment rates. This would provide strong evidence to HMIC that Cleveland Police is making significant progress in resolving areas of concern and provide an enhanced level of service to the public.

The proposed solution would also act as an enabler for potential future introduction of additional digital communication channels with the public as it provides a technical platform upon which additional modules can be deployed.

Proposed changes to the 2017/18 capital budget are as follows:

Release of the £85k capital budget for the CSH phone licences as the scheme is to be replaced.

Request of £85k capital budget for the Intelligent Call Handling Solution - An intelligent call handling solution uses voice recognition to route calls based on name, department, service, or any other identifying descriptor associated with an area of the organisation.

Additional £16k to be provided through revenue contribution to capital.

Hartlepool Coastal Surveillance Station has been operational since 1989. The aims and objectives of the charity are to provide assistance in the protection and preservation of life and property of people using the inshore waters, beaches, piers and coastal areas in and around Hartlepool bay.

Volunteers provide surveillance cover, 8 hours per day, 7 days a week and report any safety issues to the relevant emergency services including the Coastguard, Police, RNLI and UK Border Agency.

The Station applied for funding to help with their on-going running costs which include Radar License and Sea Safety Fee. The Station have also been successful with gaining funding from other partners in Cleveland.

This initiative supports the PCC’s priorities of Working Together to Make Cleveland Safer and Investing in Our Police.

This is a Decision Record Form outlining the PCC’s Budget and Capital Plans for 2018/19 and the Long Term Financial Plans to 2021/22.

There is a legal requirement for the PCC to set a budget prior to the 1st March each year for the following financial year. Approving this Decision will ensure that the PCC’s obligations in this area are met for 2018/19.

The Revenue Budget for 2018/19 is based on the approved £12 increase in precept for a Band D property for 2018/19 and sets out how the £134,644k of revenue funding to be received by the PCC in 2018/19 will be spent. The decision also sets out a capital programme of nearly £6.7m for 2018/19 and provides details of how this will be spent.